Bella was squatting at the entrance of the Tower of Babel, a small watering can in her hand, carefully watering a tiny, pale green seedling.
Joyce recognized it immediately as a reed seedling.
Come to think of it, she hadn't seen any reed seedlings along the way. Logically speaking, with the reeds here so lush and the flowers blooming so vibrantly, there should be seedlings everywhere…
The thought barely formed before Joyce shook her head.
What was she thinking? This was a mindscape. How could it follow the rules of the natural world?
Composing herself, Joyce pushed aside the last of the reeds and stepped out.
Hearing the noise, Bella looked up, her brow furrowed in confusion as she stared ahead.
When she saw Joyce, Bella's mind seemed to short-circuit. Squatting on the ground, she already looked a bit lost, and now she looked even more so.
Mouth agape, she watched as Joyce brushed the reed fluff off her clothes, walked up to her, looked around blankly, and then, staring at Joyce, suddenly blurted out.
"Are you dead too?"
Joyce choked, then quickly brushed the remaining fluff off her clothes before squatting down beside Bella.
"I don't know if I'm dead or not… Why do you think you're dead?" Joyce asked, a touch of melancholy in her voice.
"Me?" Bella gently lifted the watering can in her hand. This time, she didn't run or say anything else, as if the two of them were close friends.
"Actually, I don't know either… but I must be dead…" Bella thought for a moment. "I remember… I think I took the medicine from Lady Sirin, and then I turned into a dragon…"
So you were that new dragon… Joyce looked at Bella for a moment, then at the reed seedling, which was nearly drowning in water.
Fortunately, this kind of plant wasn't particularly susceptible to overwatering. The excess water was flowing away through tiny channels, towards the already grown reeds.
"Anyway, when I woke up, I was here…" Bella finished explaining, then suddenly tilted her head and looked at Joyce. "What about you? Why are you here?"
Joyce pointed at herself. "Me? Shouldn't I be here?"
Bella nodded, then shook her head. "No, it's just… everyone who comes here seems to be children who stayed at the Tower of Babel with me, and the uncles and aunties, grandpas and grandmas from the tower…"
Joyce froze, looking back at the towering Tower of Babel behind her. "You're saying… everyone who was in the Tower of Babel is here?"
"Yeah." Bella nodded, placing the watering can on the side and pulling a small packet of granules from her pocket.
It was fertilizer, a bit coarse, but a valuable nutrient for reeds.
Joyce didn't ask further. She watched Bella pour the entire packet of fertilizer onto the seedling and couldn't help but reach out and scoop a handful back.
"A reed seedling can't handle that much fertilizer."
"Why?" Bella asked, puzzled. "Isn't more better?"
"Of course, more nutrients are better, but plants need more than just fertilizer. They need water too. If there are too many nutrients, it'll displace the water, and without water, the seedling will die."
Bella looked at the fertilizer in her hand, then at the watering can beside her.
"But why can't they coexist?" Bella asked, still confused. "They're both good, why would they push each other out?"
Joyce choked for a moment, then patted Bella's head. Bella didn't resist. She watched Joyce sprinkle the handful of fertilizer onto the lush reed cluster.
"Because a person's world is only so big. It's filled to the brim with all sorts of things. But a seedling only needs a few things: water, sunlight, nutrients…"
"They should understand how much space they occupy, and whether they've left room for what the seedling needs… Only when the surrounding environment truly suits the seedling's needs can it truly thrive."
Bella nodded, seeming to understand, but not entirely. She stared at the seedling, lost in thought.
"Can you tell me where Sirin is?" Joyce asked, after a moment of silence.
Bella looked up. "Lady Sirin? She's in her room."
Then, she stared at Joyce for a moment, and suddenly asked, "Is there something you need from Lady Sirin?"
Joyce thought for a moment. "To be honest, the world is facing a great crisis, and only Sirin can save it. So I need to find her."
Joyce and Bella stared at each other for a while. Suddenly, a strange look appeared on Bella's face.
"Really…?"
Joyce had a bad feeling, but still nodded. "Really."
Bella's expression grew even stranger. She looked Joyce up and down, then stood up with a sigh. "Okay…"
Then, she opened the door for Joyce, revealing the interior of the Tower of Babel.
All the facilities inside seemed to be silent. The lights in the hallway were off, and the clocks on the wall were forever frozen at a fixed time.
Bella pointed inside. "Go straight ahead. Sirin's room is at the very end…"
Joyce glanced into the darkness, thanked Bella, and stepped inside.
Behind her, where Joyce couldn't see, Bella stood at the entrance of the Tower of Babel, gently raising a hand and placing it on an invisible wall.
The wall blocked her path, shutting her out, preventing her from leaving the seedling's vicinity.
That was the place where she had spent the most time in Babylon, besides being by Sirin's side…
As soon as Joyce entered the hallway, a slightly aged voice came from nearby.
"Are you… Lady Joyce from Future City…?" A bald old man, leaning on a cane and wearing round, black-rimmed glasses, emerged from the darkness.
Joyce paused. She recognized his voice.
"Dr. John… you're here too?" Joyce was quite surprised by John's appearance. Bella being here was puzzling enough, but John being in Sirin's world was even more shocking.
John smiled and turned to look at the rooms on either side of the hallway.
"Not just me… everyone who is slumbering in the Tower of Babel is here…"